Rommel shares extensive ideas and examples stemming from our behavioral healthcare work including the St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton Margaret and Charles Juravinski Centre for Integrated Healthcare, which opened in February 2014.

Rommel on the Growth of Behavioral Healthcare Design

“We’re working on about a dozen new freestanding behavioral health hospitals on the design boards right now. If you asked me 10 years ago would we ever get to that point, I would have laughed at you. Two years ago we opened 1,500 psychiatric beds in one year. That’s a huge number of beds being added to the system.”

Rommel on Emergence of Dedicated Psychiatric EDs

“Dedicated psychiatric EDs that are designed to address the safety needs of someone in mental crisis have also become more popular in the last 10 years. In an Emergency Room in an acute care environment, you have lots of equipment and tools that can be very dangerous. A psychiatric exam room, on the other hand, has such features as soothing lighting, tamper-resistant light fixtures, and sliding doors that conceal medical gases and equipment when they’re not in use.”

Rommel on Finding Solutions that Drive Value in Care

“If we can make [finding cost-effective solutions that meet facilities’ high safety and security needs while still providing an environment where a patient can stabilize and receive treatment] a more efficient process, then we’ve helped that provider either treat more individuals or made it more economical for them to provide care.”